Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff of Russia's armed forces, is visiting Japan this week, in a trip that will raise eyebrows in the U.S. and western European capitals.
For Gerasimov is none other than the controversial creator of the "Gerasimov doctrine," an expanded theory of modern warfare that includes the deployment of information tools and is widely thought to have guided Russia's interference in the 2016 in the U.S. presidential election. In Washington he would be close to persona non grata. In the European Union meanwhile, Gerasimov is subject to sanctions for his role in Moscow's violent intervention in Ukraine.
